Plans for a new community swimming pool at Withdean Sports Complex are close to a final decision. Brighton & Hove City Council says Cabinet will decide on the scheme at its December meeting, with construction costs now higher than planned.
The council gave the update in a news release on Tuesday 27 October. The pool would have 5 lanes and be 25 metres long, and the council describes it as the first new publicly funded swimming pool built in the city for around 40 years. The council’s 2026/27 meeting timetable lists the next Cabinet meeting for Thursday 10 December.
What has changed since planning approval
The planning committee voted unanimously on 3 December 2025 and approved the pool. Since then, the council says, the plans have been adapted after feedback from residents.
The main change is to the changing village. It now has a family and communal cubicle changing area, alongside separate cubicles for men and women. There will also be accessible changing facilities.
Procurement for the main building contract has taken place, and the council has been working through the planning conditions that must be met before building can start.
Councillor Alan Robins, Cabinet Member for Sports, Recreation and Libraries, called the pool a “once in a generation opportunity”. He said residents had a huge input into the first plans, and that swimming remains the most popular activity among residents. He added that children and young people will benefit from more chances to learn to swim.
Why the budget is going up
The council says its proposed construction costs have risen because of the global economic crisis and the effect of conflict in the Middle East on the construction industry. Cabinet members are now being asked to consider increasing the budget.
The release does not say how much more is needed. When Cabinet backed the scheme in July 2025, it approved a total project budget of £6.88m. According to the Cabinet report from 17 July 2025, that was to be paid for with £6.534m of borrowing and £0.346m of developer contributions known as Section 106 money. The report said £6.88m was £1.08m more than the figure in an earlier report from January 2024, and gave inflation in construction costs over the previous 18 months as one of the reasons.
ImJustBrighton note. The papers for the 10 December meeting should show the new figure. We will report it when it is published.
How the plan got here
In January 2024, the council’s Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee agreed in principle to a new modular pool at Withdean, which the council called the North Hub. According to the decision record, it set aside £451,000 of borrowing for detailed design, surveys and planning consent.
An appendix to the earlier report showed the pool as an extension on the north side of the complex, parallel to the main entrance, on a footprint of about 997 square metres. That early design had 5 lanes, a pool depth of 1.35 metres, space for 83 swimmers and seating for about 100 spectators. The design has been reworked since, so treat those figures as early-stage.
What the planning report says
The council is both the applicant and the planning authority for application BH2025/01881, which became valid on 14 August 2025. The planning report describes an extension to the north of the existing sports complex, holding the pool, accessible changing, plant rooms and an overflow car park, with landscaping and a refurbished reception that links to the pool.
The extension is a single-storey building with a double-height pool hall under a pitched roof. It would have metal roof and wall cladding on a brick plinth, with solar panels on the roof. Two trees would be removed and replaced, and the council’s tree team raised no objection.
The report puts the net loss of car parking at 12 spaces once the overflow car park is counted. The July 2025 Cabinet report had given a net loss of 7, so the plans have changed since then. Planning conditions limit use of the pool to 6am to 10pm from Monday to Friday and 7am to 9pm at weekends and on bank holidays. They also require a travel plan, a BREEAM rating of at least “Very Good” for sustainability, an Energy Performance Certificate rating of at least B and a biodiversity net gain plan.
Eight people objected, mainly over traffic and parking, noise, lighting, flooding, the design of the building and the loss of trees. Three people supported the plans, saying the pool would add to a hub for sport, encourage healthier lifestyles and serve the north of the city.
The complex already has other recent additions, including the city’s first covered padel courts, which opened in April 2026.
The plan behind the pool
The council says the pool follows from its Sports Facilities Investment Plan, which covers 2021 to 2031. Consultants carried out condition surveys on each of the council’s sports buildings, and the plan recommended three large hubs. The west hub would replace King Alfred Leisure Centre, the east hub would replace the Prince Regent Swimming Complex, and the north hub would build on Withdean. Smaller community centres would sit alongside them.
The plan estimated that improving the community centres and creating the two new hubs in the west and east could cost in the region of £85 million, with Withdean forming the north hub. It said the cost could be met by long-term borrowing, repaid through better income from the sports facilities, and by capital returns from old sites once new ones were built, along with grants.
ImJustBrighton note. The 2021 plan’s list of ideas for Withdean was a soft play area, a small-sided 3G pitch with new outdoor changing, and a bigger health and fitness offer. It did not name a swimming pool. The pool came later, and the 2024 and 2025 council reports set out the case for it.
Which buildings the plan looked at
The plan looked at 11 sites in the council’s indoor sports portfolio, made up of seven leisure centres and four paddling pools or water features. It also covered two school sports facilities that the council owns, Surrenden Pool and Longhill Sports Centre. The Manor and Saltdean Lido were left out because they are leased.
The plan says the buildings are ageing. The newest, Moulsecoomb Community Leisure Centre, was built in 1991, and the oldest, St Luke’s Swimming Pool, dates from the early 1900s.
What the condition surveys found
The surveys said the buildings would need an estimated £20 million just to maintain them over the next 15 years and keep them open, with over half of that spending due within five years. The plan argued that this money would be better spent on modern, more efficient buildings, and said the council’s aim of being carbon neutral by 2030 would not be met with the existing facilities.
The same page reports about 1.7 million visits a year in 2018 to 2019. It says the council’s pools performed well, with income per square metre more than 50% higher than a national range, but that there was pressure on the amount of pool water available. The city’s main swimming clubs said they did not have enough pool time and used pools outside Brighton and Hove. The plan named Withdean as the council’s highest performing facility, and King Alfred Leisure Centre and St Luke’s Swimming Pool as the lowest for financial return compared with their size.
What residents said
The plan draws on an online survey that ran for nine weeks, from 16 November 2020 to 17 January 2021, and received 1,474 valid responses. More than 83% agreed that the council should replace some of the older sports facilities with better designed, more modern ones, and 66.7% agreed with the vision of three large sports facilities supported by smaller community ones. A main swimming pool was the top priority for a new hub, chosen by 84.8%.
For Withdean, 23.6% of respondents felt the complex did not need large-scale improvements and 32.7% wanted the council to improve it. These figures come from before the pool was proposed.
What it means for the wider city
The plan said the supply of pool water in the city fell short of demand, and that any closure would put heavy pressure on the other pools. It called the replacement of King Alfred Leisure Centre long overdue, described the Prince Regent Swimming Complex as dated with high upkeep costs, and said Withdean would continue to serve the north of the city.
The July 2025 Cabinet report repeated that point. It said existing pools were in poor condition and of advanced age, and that the replacement for King Alfred Leisure Centre would not be complete until spring 2028 at the earliest. Our report on the new King Alfred Leisure Centre covers that scheme. The council’s leisure contract with Freedom Leisure is being put out to tender again, and the report said the new contract was likely to start on 1 April 2027.
What happens next
Cabinet will make the final decision in December, and the council’s timetable lists the meeting for Thursday 10 December. The July 2025 report expected building to start in early 2026 and finish in spring 2027. That timetable has moved, and the council’s release does not give a new start or opening date.
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